Les classes (Year) sont regroupées en 4 étapes clefs (Key Stage) :
- Key Stage 1, Year 1-2, 5 à 7 ans
- Key Stage 2, Year 3-6, 7 à 11 ans
- Key Stage 3, Year 7-9, 11 à 14 ans
- Key Stage 4, Year 10-11, 14 à 16 ans
Le curriculum en cours a été défini en 2013.
Leur suivi est obligatoire ("These are the statutory programmes of study and attainment targets for history at key stages 1 to 3. They are issued by law; you must follow them unless there’s a good reason not to. All local-authority-maintained schools should teach them").
Voici le lien vers le National curriculum in England: history programmes of study des Key Stage1, Key Stage 2 et Key Stage 3.
Voici quelques extraits
Key Stage 2
Les périodes
- changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age
- the Roman Empire and its impact on Brit ain
- Britain ’s settlement by Anglo- Saxons and Scots
- The Viking and Anglo- Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor
Exemples de cas d'études
- Julius Caesar’s attempted invasion in 55 - 54 BC
- the Roman Empire by AD 42 and the power of its army
- successful invasion by Claudius and conquest, including Hadrian’s Wall
- British resistance, for example, Boudica
- ‘Romanisation’ of Britain: sites such as Caerwent and the impact of technology, culture and beliefs, including early Christianity
Key Stage 3
Les périodes
- the development of Church, state and society in Medieval Britain 1066- 1509
- the development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509- 1745
- ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain, 1745 -1901
- challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day
- Renaissance and Reformation in Europe
- the English Reformation and Counter Reformation (Henry VIII to Mary I)
- the Elizabethan religious settlement and conflict with Catholics (including Scotland, Spain and Ireland)
- the first colony in America and first contact with India
- the causes and events of the civil wars throughout Britain
- the Interregnum (including Cromwell in Ireland)
- the Restoration, ‘Glorious Revolution’ and power of Parliament
- the Act of Union of 1707,
- the Hanoverian succession and the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745